THE COMING OF SPRING 



other familiar plant of the near-by woods and fields 

 wears such diversity of leaf -shapes, the leaf -type so 

 often overshading that of the flower as to give the 

 name and identify the 

 plant after the bloom- 

 ing has passed. 



The old road, 

 being of decay- 

 ing slabs ides , 

 made it necessary 

 for me to lead 

 Nell, as it was 

 too full of pit- 

 falls for even 

 that clever four- 

 foot. What was 

 that yonder, in a second lightly shaded place, 

 sloping southward like the haunt of the Spring 

 Beauty? Maidenhair Ferns breaking the ground ? 

 No; a more sturdy shaft, growing upward, but not 

 yet expanded. Ah, one leaf reveals it all! In a 

 few weeks, two or three at most, the soft green 

 umbrellas of the Mandrake or May Apple will be 

 sheltering each its white -capped flower from sun 

 and rain, as it takes its place in the great spring 

 flower -market of outdoors. 



